iHeartMedia and Katz Go Programmatic

They all say programmatic is the wave of the future, and iHeartMedia is bringing it into the present with the able assistance of its media rep wing Katz. Jelli is in on the project that will put hundreds of stations at the service of advertisers.

The programmatic system “…will utilize data sets to enable unique forms of targeting, such as music-based psychographic groups, weather and traffic patterns, purchase behavior and other environmental, population and consumer trends.”

Meanwhile, Katz Media Group will launch Expressway from Katz, the first industrywide programmatic buying ad exchange at scale for the radio industry’s most important players, which also uses the same technology.

The new program received a testimonial from Entercom’s David Field, who said, “This partnership is an innovative milestone for the radio industry. Radio has always provided unmatched value, and now we can bring today’s data sources, targeting at scale and the speed, ease and precision of programmatic buying to our advertising partners, matching or exceeding the capabilities of any other media sector.”

“We are excited to be aboard as a charter user,” said Bill Koenigsberg, President, CEO and Founder of Horizon Media, Inc. “This move allows us to finally combine the tremendous power of radio advertising in a cost-effective and responsive way with unique and real time targeting capabilities.”

“This is an important step by iHeartMedia and the radio industry at large given the growth of marketers’ use of, and desire to, enable their messages to be more intelligent, discreet, and fueled by data,” said John Nitti, Chief Investment Officer, ZenithOptimedia. “ZenithOptimedia and iHeartMedia have a strong partnership in place, and this milestone is a great step in the continued evolution of that partnership.”

“As the top national sales firm representing many great radio companies, we felt it was critical that radio take the lead. Expressway from Katz will deliver the capabilities and speed of automation and programmatic to all of our radio companies as we bring the power of radio to advertisers, providing unprecedented scale and customer knowledge,” said Mark Rosenthal, President of Katz Media Group. “Everyone here, from the CEO to our sales assistants, is excited about how this new capability will transform our business and how much more responsive we can be to our partners. It will give the entire radio industry an additional way to sell, putting this industry ahead of even the newest digital companies.”

“We couldn’t be more excited to be chosen to power iHeartMedia’s programmatic solutions as well as Expressway from Katz, and we look forward to working with them to provide cutting-edge technology solutions that can’t be found anywhere else,” said Mike Dougherty, CEO of Jelli.